head to head
Castlevania: Harmony of DespairvsMetroid Fusion
Castlevania: Harmony of Despair leans Optimization (Practiced Mastery); Metroid Fusion leans Execution (Practiced Mastery).
Castlevania: Harmony of DespairMetroid Fusion
Axis by axis
Execution6 vs 6
Even - both lean on execution about the same.
Reads0 vs 0
Even - both lean on reads about the same.
Variance4 vs 2
Castlevania: Harmony of Despair leans harder on variance: Rare drop grinding injects real RNG into builds
Optimization7 vs 6
Castlevania: Harmony of Despair leans harder on optimization: Route optimisation and gear builds dominate clear times
Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.

